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Charly East x Jean Grae x Pharoahe Monch

“AYE. What instrument you play?”
I’m on 7th & 27th in downtown NY when this random ass guy walks up to me and says he’s a “producer who wants to make some craaaaazy music!” Don’t we all? So over it. I hop in a white car and chat with a man named Guy I have never seen before about the direction artists should take when beginning their careers.. and he is intelligent and unbiased, so the shit sounds great.

I went to Brooklyn. Better yet, Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Hadn’t eaten or slept in a day already, and here I was inside a very neat recording studio wearing a blue romper & jumping around with my violin speaking in those accents I do love..

I was asked personally by Jean Grae to feature violin on her upcoming album. I didn’t know what to expect, but this lifelike doll in a white and red patterned sundress–complete with some gangster ass asian tattoos everywhere–came up and shook my hand and it was history. We arranged strings together for hours.. and yes, her musical sense is incredible. It’s another kinda thing when the artists you work with have such a solid vision for what they want you to do with them.. not the usual “so we juss’ gon’ meet up in the studio and then just take it from there!” shit.

On top of that, Pharoahe Monch was in the studio as well.. and guess who arranged strings for him on a track featuring Phonte & Styles P? Yours truly, the Easterbunny.

And, get this.. who randomly fuckin goes to a Talib Qweli show (completely faded) and gets to watch Jean Grae perform her ass off in front of hundreds of the most beautiful young & colorful faces I have ever seen in NY?

h-town baybeeehhhhh

not drunk yet. i swear.

he is really really good, way better than me actually.

so on the right, here we have a bow with mongolian horse hair..

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Categories + crazy studio stories, + le violon, + mi amigos

Berklee x Wyclef session

20 Jun

“So when you gon’ finally go on tour with me?”
Whenever you organize it, I said.
“Na, better yet.. I want you to teach violin at my school in Haiti. I’m building it for children.”

Wyclef stood in front of me, looking like he knows a joke I don’t; he always looks at everyone like that. Here we were, two old friends– face to face again after the VH1 SoulStage performance we did together.. and he was hiring me to teach his beloved people.

Fuck yea I’ll teach them!

Wait.. why was I in front of this guy, anyway? Like on a random Saturday? Oh, probably because he was in Boston to record the live orchestral parts to three of the songs appearing on his next album, The Haitian Experience. Aaaand probably because since he goes to Berklee, it’s only fair that he ask the string students there first.

We were all hired to originally play two sessions, four hours on both Saturday and Sunday. After the producer saw the light in just having us all day–and we actually showed up and recorded 3hr38min and STILL just finished one song out of 3, it made sense anyway. We’re featured on “Tonight”, “Historia”, and “Strangers in the Night” as a full string section, and we actually play completely throughout each of the songs. My friend Will was contracted to arrange all the music and he executed conducting it with such passion.

(I’ma be on tv like “THAT’S MY FRIEND Y’ALL!!”)

Then we lost ourselves within mountains of Haitian food, recorded the last two songs, and fuckin KICKED it. I could go into detail.. but you just had to be there. These few pictures, taken before my camera died, can’t begin to cover how fun this shit was.

PS: Jason Turbyfill is the most random name I’ve ever heard. Just for fun, somebody go facebook him.